Lessons from Libya: How Not to Intervene

realweirdo wrote: »

Ah right, it was all about oil. Change the record please. :rolleyes:

No,I'm afraid it was not all about Oil.

Whilst Oil was indeed one of Libyas great bargaining tools,in this instance it was not the major reason for intervention.

The rather sudden requirement to "facilitate" regime change in Libya remains still somewhat less than crystal clear.

What we do know is that America was NOT initially the major player,but was a somewhat low key supporter as the initiative gathered momentum.

Sarkozy,Cameron,Blair,Hague,even oul Berlusconi all have stories to tell,no doubt all fully expressing their concerns for the welfare of the "Libyan People",rather than whetever information was being gleaned by their respective intelligence gathering operations in-country.

Whereas American motivation and political decision making can often be startlingly simplistic to Europeans (Viz Hilary Clintons cackling at Gadaffi's execution),European reasoning often tends to be far murkier and jesuitical,with,perhaps a century being required for full ramifications to be apparent.

Perhaps the surviving Gadaffi will be afforded some opportunity to place his thoughts and experiences before an open court ?

I can't change the record,but perhaps altering the speed may help :eek:

realweirdo wrote: »

Ok frankly this is conspiracy nonsense and since you've decided to go down that route, I'm done with you.

Thank you for your patience to date.

However,to continue with the discussion for other contributors.

It's noteworthy that senior American Military people are becoming less committed to fulfilling their committment to democracy in relation to training Libyan military forces.

http://www.stripes.com/news/africom-postpones-training-libyan-troops-1.300333

His comments echoed those of the outgoing U.N. special representative to Libya, Tarek Mitri, before the U.N. Security Council on Wednesday.

“The threat from the spread of terrorist groups has become real,” Mitri said. “At present, the chaotic security situation and the very limited capacity of the government to counter this threat may well have created a fertile ground for a mounting danger in Libya and beyond.”

Given that the above statement comes from a UN Official,it could be described as the Understatement of the Year.

“Arms, ammunition and explosives are all over the place and provide opportunities for these violent groups to generate revenues to assert their will through violence,” AFRICOM Gen. David Rodriguez told reporters last month at his Stuttgart headquarters.

The U.S. military had been planning to train 5,000 to 8,000 Libyan troops as part of an effort to strengthen the fledgling government’s army. The training was expected to take place in eastern Europe. NATO also had plans to train Libyan forces, but those efforts too have been on hold because of the widespread unrest in the country.

Good to see that BOTH the U.S and NATO were contributing to further bolstering the Libyan army,although WHO's Libyan Army might well be a pertinent question.

As for the conspiracy theories,no I'm not a great believer in these,in this case I'll defer to the U'S Army's man on the spot,General Rodriguez.

In attempting any analysis of what lies ahead for Libya and it's unfortunate inhabitants,the only guidelines have to come from the "Invaders".

However reading any Western sourced accounts is indeed depressing stuff...far more so than ANY Conspiracy Theory could ever be....

http://www.stripes.com/news/middle-east/us-intervention-in-libya-now-seen-as-a-cautionary-tale-1.290981

Senator Richard Lugar,perhaps unwittingly,describes the essential flaw behind much of the modern worlds thinking on what to do in Libya-like situations....

Those who argued against the 2011 intervention say problems were foreseeable.

Former Republican Sen. Richard Lugar of Indiana, who argued against the military campaign while serving as ranking minority member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said, “There wasn’t enough thought given to how we were going to make sure these people had the security and freedom we wanted them to have.”

Not enough thought,for sure.....not ANY,in my opinion (humble as it is).